How to fix "dropped frames" with USB 3.0 or 2.0 cameras.

How to fix "dropped frames" with USB 3.0 / 2.0 cameras.

This support article will tell you how to diagnose and fix "dropped frames" on USB 3.0 and 2.0 cameras.

Symptoms

The camera live preview appears "choppy"

A captured video clip has many frames that are duplicated.

The camera "advanced settings" window lists a large number of dropped frames

Explanation

The problem of dropping frames can be related to several issues, but is rooted in the fact that a USB camera is usually limited by the amount of available bandwidth on the USB bus. USB 3.0 has a much higher bandwidth capability than USB 2.0, hence why it's possible to use more than one camera on a laptop with USB 3.0, however the limitations are more or less the same.

If you have other USB devices connected they may "steal" bandwidth.

If the computer tries to conserve power by entered an "idle" power state it may affect the USB 3.0 or 2.0 performance, which again may result in dropped frames.

Solutions

Lower the "pixel clock" in the camera "Advanced Settings", if this works but results in a significantly lowered frame rate please try the other solutions below.

Ensure you do not have any other (active) USB devices connected, such as a webcam.

Enable the "disable CPU idle states" setting. This setting can be found in the application "IDS Camera manager" under the "Additional Functions" button/dialog. Other camera manufacturers have similar functionality.